On the same day that the regular Aqua went on sale in its home market, Toyota's TRD racing and performance division announced a slew of tuning upgrades for the sub-compact hatchback.
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Now this trend seems to be reversing, albeit at a slow pace. For example, Peugeot’s new supermini, the 208, is lighter than its predecessor, the 207.
According to business daily newspaper Nikkei, Honda will soon join the pack as it plans to change its design and assembly methods to reduce its vehicles’ weight without making any compromises in safety or comfort features.
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Among other changes, the Japanese firm has upgraded the GT-R's sophisticated electronics, aerodynamics, chassis and of course, the 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine that started out with 480-horsepower and now, in its latest iteration, churns out 550 ponies.
To see what these improvements mean in practice, Japan's BestMotor TV brought three generations of the GT-R from 2012, 2011 and 2009 [marketed as the 2013MY, 2012MY and 2010MY respectively in North America], to the Twin Ring Motegi circuit for a 0 to 400m / quarter-mile duel as well as a three-lap race around the track.
However, we're not 100 percent convinced that what we're seeing through this phone camera video (note to the mobile device owner: next time, please hold it the right way…) is indeed a Veyron, though it does look and sound like it is.
You can check out the short clip after the jump and tell us what you think.
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Japan’s number one car manufacturer, though, is readying a comeback to reclaim the throne it held since 2008 as soon as possible – which means, next year.
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Nissan will showcase two models, the GT-R Pure Edition equipped with the right-hand drive only Track Pack and the JDM Skyline (sold in the rest if the world as the Infiniti G37) 55th Limited Edition, which commemorates the series' 55th anniversary and features bespoke aeroparts and a sportier chassis setup.
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Mazda was the first to announce its line-up for the auto salon, led by the new CX-5 that will be launched in Japan next spring. The new compact-size crossover will be shown in two versions: the standard model, and a customized special edition sporting red bodywork color, matte-black alloy wheels and a slightly lower ride height.
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But that was to be expected as affordable and focused rear-wheel drive sports coupes have become an increasingly rare sight in our days.
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You can get a sample of their precise driving and impressive drifting skills with a Nissan 350Z RC in the videos that follow right after the jump. And while no doubt you'll find all the tricks and courses pretty cool, you may want to turn down the volume as the same music plays on all clips.
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Toyota said that it expects to bring in a net profit of 180 billion Yen [US$2.3 billion] for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, down 53.8 percent from the 390 billion yen [US$5.04 billion] it projected in August.
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The two companies will cooperate in the development of carbon fiber and composite materials for future use in high-volume GM cars, trucks and crossovers.
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Pushing its suppliers hard to minimize their costs, or finding alternative partners, is one of the measures taken by the biggest Japanese carmaker. Moving more of its production out of Japan to more cost-efficient plants in other countries is t.
The weak dollar is making manufacturing in the U.S. increasingly more attractive, allowing for more competitive prices and higher profit margin – to the point that U.S.-made Camrys will be exported to South Korea.
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Proving his foolishness, the driver of a white-colored Mercedes-Benz CLS in Japan scrapped his (or her) car against a grey Nissan GT-R while changing from the left to the right lane and attempted to flee the scene to avoid paying for the damages.
The fender bender can be seen 17-seconds into the video at which point, the driver of the Nissan GT-R pauses for a couple of seconds before launching an all-out attack to capture the perpetrator before he (or she) got away.
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Luckily, no fatalities were reported though ten drivers suffered bruising and some minor injuries.
“The accident occurred when the driver of a red Ferrari was switching from the right lane to the left and skidded,” Mitsuyoshi Isejima, executive officer for Yamaguchi Prefecture’s Expressway Traffic Police unit told Bloomberg News. “It was a gathering of narcissists," said Isejima who added that the drivers were aged between 37 and 60 years old.
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| Production Model Coming in Fall of 2012 |
"As a part of the N Series, a new model based on N Concept 3 will be introduced to the market in spring 2012, followed by the introduction of another model based on N Concept 4 in fall 2012," said Minekawa. "With that, we will strive to increase our mini-vehicle sales to 280,000 units, which would double the sales of 2011," he added. 
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| Toyota considering Supra successor and sub - 86 sports car |
